


I Don’t Believe in Destiny

by EmperorNorton150



Series: Catra's Coup [7]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Awkward Conversations, Leadership, Not Canon Compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-11
Updated: 2020-10-11
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:26:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26953594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmperorNorton150/pseuds/EmperorNorton150
Summary: The Best Friend Squad returns to the Fright Zone, this time on a diplomatic mission, forcing Adora to confront how much her home has changed--and who has changed it.
Relationships: Adora & Catra (She-Ra), Bow & Glimmer (She-Ra), Catra & Glimmer (She-Ra)
Series: Catra's Coup [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1805098
Comments: 11
Kudos: 39





	I Don’t Believe in Destiny

It was quiet in the Secondary Receiving Hall of the Fright Zone. They had been waiting there now for over fifteen minutes, but if there was one thing the Horde taught well, it was discipline. No sound broke the silence but the occasional scuff of a boot on the title floor or a muffled cough. Suddenly, there was a _popping_ sound from outside, and a dim flash of purple light glimpsed around the rim of the doorway onto the balcony. Voices echoed faintly.

“…...and then mom says I’m not _diplomatic_? I’m so diplomatic! I’m twice as diplomatic as her! Gahhhhh!” 

“You are indeed…...very diplomatic. Very much so.”

“I know, right?!” A sigh. “Hey Adora, you alright?”

“Yeah! I’m good. It’s just a little weird being back, y’know?”

“C’mon guys, let’s get inside before someone gets suspicious and tries to zap us with a laser or something.” There were some rattling sounds, the door opened, and the Best Friend Squad strolled into the Hall.

_Crash!_

All three of them spung back in shock as two hundred Horde soldiers slammed to attention as one. Bow had an arrow notched, Glimmer’s fists were glowing, and Adora’s sword was halfway out of her sheath in a heartbeat.

“ _Forthehonorof!_ —" Adora cut herself off as she realized no one in the room was moving. The soldiers stood perfectly still, in parade ground formation, two lines flanking the entranceway. Laser-rifles slapped into breastplates, heels clicked, helms stared straight ahead. Their armor was gleaming. Drums beat a perfect tattoo, while at the far end of the room two banners lifted above the honor guard, the flag of Bright Moon and the ensign of the Horde. The floor was coated in green and black marble tiles, polished to a shine. One wall was hung with tattered Horde battle flags, embroidered with the names of glorious victories. The other was covered in a massive, lovingly detailed map of Etheria, with the Horde’s territory outlined in crimson. Adora and Bow put away their weapons, looking a little taken aback. Glimmer looked fit to spit fire. She was muttering under her breath.

“Ohhh that _stupid kitty cat_ thinks she can outdo me, does she? She thinks she can outshine Bright Moon? I’ll show her. Next time she comes to visit I’ll have…. dancing girls and…...war elephants and…...fireworks and….” A horn blew three times, then three times again, then three times again. The ancient signal of greeting between two Etherian monarchs, though in these fallen days it was only used by those with a true love of the old traditions.

“…...get out the old crystal silverware that mom doesn’t let us use......get some ice sculptures from Frosta…...how _dare_ she…” A Sergeant stepped forward, wearing a spotless dress uniform. He saluted, and Adora returned it automatically, though she then looked a little sheepish.

“Her Excellency the Generalissimo bids you welcome to the Fright Zone, Envoys of Bright Moon! In the Name of the Horde, I offer you our greetings and hospitality.”

“ _In the Name of the Horde!_ ” roared the honor guard. Bow smiled, and made a small bow.

“We are honored by your kind welcome.” He elbowed Glimmer. “ _Isn’t that right?_ ” Glimmer started, and bobbed a quick bow.

“Yes! Yes, we are.”

“Splendid, splendid! If you please, I’ll escort you to the hanger now?” With a murmur of polite assents, he swept them down the path of soldiers and deeper into the Fright Zone.

The trip wasn’t a long one, but it was _weird_. All of them had been here before of course, but that was the problem. Bow had been imprisoned here once. That hadn’t been fun. Glimmer had been part of the attack force that had broken him out. Adora had _grown up_ here. Even just walking through the corridors of corrugated steel, nodding to the occasional passing Horde trooper, was stressful. Finally, a descent in a rattling elevator brough them down into the hanger bay. Adora whistled. It had been two years since they’d lost that battle out in the Crimson Wastes. She’d forgotten how big the First One spaceship was. The sweep of its silver wings arched above them. Scrubbed clean of sand and dirt, they gleamed in the glow of the electric arc lights. Generators had been attached to it with giant bundles of cables, roaring with power, and technicians were crawling all over the exterior, poking things and shouting back in forth in their incomprehensible jargon. Even so, Catra’s voice cut cleanly through the clamor.

“……and you can tell the Duke that if paying tribute to the Horde on time is too much of a burden, I would be glad to relieve him of it.” She strode around the ship’s nearest corner, cape fluttering, Force Captain Lonnie pacing beside.

“I’ll get right on it boss.” She saluted and walked off, giving a single, curt nod to the Bright Moon delegates as she passed them. Adora winced.

“My apologies for not being at your arrival ceremony!” Catra smirked. “I do hope it was…...satisfactory?”

“It was…...serviceable” replied Glimmer, smiling with all her teeth. Catra’s grin widened, and the two girls locked eyes for a moment before Adora pushed between them.

“So!” she said brightly. “Hi! How’s the work on the spaceship coming?” Catra sighed, and flicked her ears.

“Honestly? We _still_ can’t get the computer to turn on or the engines to work. You’re welcome to take a crack at it if you want because my idiots sure haven’t had much luck.” 

“We could take if off your hands if it’s such a bother” Glimmer said sweetly. Catra sniffed.

“Don’t be silly sparkles. I won that fight fair and square. You should be glad I’m giving you access at all.” Whatever Glimmer was about to say was cut off as an alarm started howling somewhere inside the spaceship. A second later, Entrapta’s head popped out of the hatch.

“Bow! Glad you’re here. I tried to jump-start the engines by hooking them into a flash-core central processing unit and now the reactor’s melting down. It’s amazing! Come quick!” One of her braids reached out and grabbed him, and he vanished into the depths of the ship with a strangled

“Byyyye!” echoing behind him, along with the sound of maniacal laughter. The alarm kept screaming, the technicians kept working, Catra looked mildly amused. After a moment Adora said

“Umm. Are you worried? About the reactor thing?”

“Hmm? Oh, not really. If I got all upset every time Entrapta almost melted down a reactor we’d never get anything done around here.” Glimmer muttered something unintelligible under her breath. They stood there for another long, awkward moment before Catra said

“So…...do you guys want a tour or something?” Adora ginned.

“Yes!” Glimmer looked at her friend, then at the Generalissimo of the Horde, then back at Adora. 

“I think I’ll stay and keep an eye on Bow” said slowly. “Why don’t you two go ahead?”

“You sure?” asked Adora.

“Yeah” she said. “I’ll be fine. Go have fun.” Catra squinted at her suspiciously, but nodded, and the two girls walked off together. Glimmer shook her head, then climbed up the ramp into the spaceship to see if Bow was still alive.

* * *

Adora realized with a start that this was the first time she’d been alone with Catra in—years? Maybe since that time they’d gotten trapped in the Crystal Castle together, just a few months after she’d left the Horde. And Catra had dropped her into a ravine. Don’t think about that maybe. She also realized she had no idea what to say. For her part, the supreme commander of the Horde was almost silent. They drifted along through familiar corridors and rooms, Catra pointing out manufacturing chambers and testing facilities with casual waves and quick, muttered comments. Now and then again, they’d come to an intersection or passageway that looked brand-new, the flooring and walls replaced with shiny new plating.

“There was fighting here during the coup” Catra explained when Adora asked. “We had to clear out the loyalists in hand-to-hand combat at the end.” Horde soldiers and officials passed them by, saluting Catra and giving Adora odd looks. At one point, passing an open doorway, Adora heard what sounded like a heard of elephants rampaging up and down. She peeked in, and saw several dozen junior cadets…...playing. It was something involving three balls, a discus, two nets, and a lot of screaming, shouting, and laughing. Force General Scorpia was attempting to maintain order, with minimal success. Adora turned and stared at Catra. She flushed, and her ears flattened.

“Adequate recreation time is essential for proper childhood development” she muttered, looking at the floor. “All the best literature says so.” Adora smiled.

“Uh- _huh_.” Catra shot a glare at her, then kept walking.

Then they were outside, strolling down one of the catwalks that laced the skies above the Fright Zone. Smog and smoke billowed overhead, glowing golden with the reflected light of the moons. Towers and smokestacks loomed above them. Adora realized where they where and stopped abruptly. Catra turned to look, her eyebrow raised in question. Adora jerked her head at the decrepit, twisted spire of metal they were standing next to.

“Wanna climb?” She expected Catra to say something withering, or to roll her eyes. Instead, she just nodded, and leaped onto the rickety ladder. Adora clambered after, hauling herself up like so many times before. She reached the top, breathing heavily, and flopped against the railing of the tiny platform. Catra had beaten her, of course, and was perched on top of the fence, her tail twitching, claws wrapped tightly around the balustrade. Adora felt like something was squeezing her heart, like she couldn’t breathe properly. _Because this was Catra_. She could forget that sometimes, when they had been fighting, or arguing across a negotiating table. But here they were, almost exactly where they’d been that day when she’d found the sword and it almost hurt to look at her. She had changed so much—gone was her cadet clothing, replaced with the red and gold and gold uniform of her new self-proclaimed rank. She was sitting perfectly still, her face a mask. Adora remembered when Catra wore her heart on her sleeve, her flickering between rage and laughter and annoyance and fear as her moods took her. Now she said just what she meant to, and no more. _But it was still Catra_. She was looking at her funnily, and Adora realized she was staring.

“It’s changed so much” she blurted out, just to say something. “The Fright Zone I mean. From when I was here. I barely recognize it.”

“We’ve been busy” said Catra quietly. “We’ve added a whole new defense ring to the western perimeter” she gestured in that direction, at the black silhouettes of gun barrels and rocket batteries, the domes of shield generators and laser turrets outlined against the sky. “We never had to worry about that flank when we were just fighting _you_ but if Prime finds us? Who _knows_ where he’ll strike.” She waved to a cluster of shiny new metal towers on the other side of the fortress-city. “Over there—do you see? We’ve had to put up three new dormitories to handle the influx of new recruits. And a mess hall, and a training room, and two new arsenals. And down _there_ , where we used to just dump all the industrial waste and sewage into the gully? I had them build a waste treatment plant. We’re recovering nearly thirty percent more resources on the back-end now. And I’m using that dead zone to build a new processing center to handle all the trade we’re doing with you people now. I want to add a new shipping route to Elberon to increase the throughout rate but the village elders keep dragging out the talks. It’s like they don’t trust me or something!”

“Shocking. What’s that?” asked Adora, leaning over the railing and pointing a massive stone building with a peeked roof. “I don’t remember it, and it doesn’t look like anything else here.” Catra smiled.

“Horror Hall, the old seat of the Scorpion Kings before the Horde came. It’s been in ruins for decades. I restored it. We use it for diplomatic receptions and such. You princesses are _such suckers_ for some fancy old stonework and pretty murals.” Adora snickered.

“They really are. You should hear Queen Angella talking about Bright Moon, she can go on for _hours_ —” Adora cut herself off with a wince. “Hey, what’s that over there?” She pointed to a cluster of geodesic glass domes dotting the ash fields to the southeast of the Zone.

“Those are our new greenhouses.” Adora blinked.

“What?”

“Don’t look at me like that! That numbskull Hordak managed to poison the ground here for ten leagues in every direction but I’ve brought in a team of Plumerian scientists and we’re trying some limited decontamination on a few acres.” Adora kept staring, and Catra scowled. “Do you know how much it costs the Horde to import food? It’s ridiculous.”

“I hadn’t thought of that” Adora confessed.

“Neither had Hordak.” Adora snorted.

“It’s all really impressive Catra.” The other girl shrugged, sending the beam she was perched on swaying wildly.

“Like I said, we’ve been busy.” She shot Adora look out of the corner of her eye. “So. What have _you_ been up to? Now that I saved the world and brought peace to Etheria without your help I mean.” It could have been snide but it came out sounding genuinely curious.

“I don’t really know” Adora said after a minute. “I mean, this and that—y’know, diplomacy and stuff. Trying to prepare for if Prime shows up. And I’ve been keeping busy. Helping out villages with flooding or harvests. I fought a dragon in the Northern Mountains last week! That was fun. But Light Hope—she’s like my boss? Except not really, maybe my mentor? Or coach? She’s a hologram who tells me stuff sometimes—”

“Umm”

“—she says that I still haven’t ‘balanced the planet’ yet, so I guess whatever this ‘She-Ra’ purpose is still hasn’t happened? I _assume_ she’ll tell me eventually but…...” Adora trailed off. “It’s weird” she said at last. “I still feel a little lost. I’m really glad we’re not fighting anymore but…...I don’t know what I’m supposed to be doing now.” Catra laughed harshly. 

“Did it ever occur to you that maybe there was nothing special about that sword?”

“I mean…...it does turn me into an eight-foot tall glowing warrior lady….” Catra brushed that aside.

“So it’s a magic sword. Who cares? You hang out with a mermaid and a girl who can shoot flowers at people. It’s just magic. Did it ever occur to you that _maybe_ there’s no special destiny, no chosen path, no fate laid out for you? That you’re no more important than the rest of us?” Adora shook her head.

“You don’t understand.”

“Oh _really_?”

“Not like that! It’s just…...do you remember the message that was playing on the First Ones spaceship when you attacked us there?”

“Kind of? Something about how opening a portal to the rest of the universe was a really bad idea. Not that that stopped that idiot Hordak” she grumbled.

“It was from Mara. The She-Ra before me.” Adora stared out over the Fright Zone, the wind whipping at her hair. “She _died_ trying to protect Etheria, Catra. She pulled the entire planet into another dimension because there was something so dangerous that she was willing to sacrifice herself to try and save us. And if it happens again—whatever _it_ is, Light Hope _still_ won’t tell me—then I have to be ready to do the same if I have to. That’s my destiny, I guess. Because if I’m the only one who can do it then I.....I just have to. It’s my…...”

“Responsibility” interjected the other girl with a grimace.

“Exactly!” Catra growled something under her breath but didn’t respond. 

* * *

The alarm cut off a few minutes after Glimmer entered the ship, which she took to be a good sign, considering that it hadn’t exploded. Her footsteps echoed in the darkened passages, lit only by scattered lights strung up by Horde soldiers, their gleam refracting weirdly on the silvery walls. The ship was bigger than she’d remembered—she’d only been inside once, over three years ago now, and the layout seemed to follow no logical pattern she could find, but eventually she heard the muffled sounds of shouting and followed them down to the engine room, in the lower aft quadrant. A semi-circle of computer terminals wrapped around three massive crystal rods, enclosed in creches of sleek machinery that Glimmer couldn’t even begin to understand. Tools were scattered across the floor, along with the melted remains of a Horde portable generator, and one of the walls was blackened with scorch marks. Bow perched on the edge of one of the terminals, puttering away determinately at a tracker pad he’d plugged into an access port. 

“So, did the reactor melt down?” she asked, stepping gingerly through the mess.

“No!” Entrapta’s voice boomed down from an open panel in the ceiling. “Well, yes. But only a little bit! And it’s OK because I think I know how to realign the magnetic couplings now….” her voice trailed off amid the sound of footstep tramping off somewhere.

“Hey!” Bow waved at Glimmer, and pushed aside some junk from the console he was sitting on. She plopped down besides him. “Where are Adora and Her Excellentness?”

“Doing a tour of the Fright Zone. I thought it’d be best to leave them alone for a bit. Watcha doing?”

“Trying to get this thing to give me access to the administrative sub-routines. Entrapta managed to get us into the upper-level interfaces but we can’t control anything from here.” He frowned. “Are you sure that’s……wise?”

“They’re both being so….so….” Glimmer waved her hand vaguely. “So…… _weird_ about each other. I want them to _do_ something about it before it drives me insane.”

“Huh.” Bow scratched his chin. “I mean, Adora, yeah, but Catra too? She always seems so…...up-tight.” Glimmer shook her head.

“You haven’t been on those diplomatic missions with her like I have. She _jumps_ if you even mention Adora. Or gets _really_ quiet all of a sudden. Which, y’know, I get. If you ever, I don’t know, found a magic bow or something and ran off to help some band of magical dukes try and conquer Bright Moon I’d be pretty upset with you.”

“I would never!” Bow said, looking affronted. Glimmer rolled her eyes.

“The point is that I want them to work out— _whatever_ this is—before it blows up in all our faces. Talk about it or have a fistfight or hit each other with staffs, I don’t know how Horde people handle this sort of this. But I bet Adora’ll feel better afterwards.” Bow put down his tracker pad and gave her a searching look.

“That’s very mature of you” he said at last.

“Thank you—hey! Why do you sound so surprised?!”

* * *

Adora wasn’t sure how long they’d been up there but the sky was darkening, the moonlight dimming to a silvery gleam. Below them, the lights of the Fright Zone were flickering on, one by one, electric constellations stretching out in all directions like the warp and weft of a tapestry. Out to the east a convoy of trucks from the Mountains of Darkness rumbled down the highway towards them, and somewhere overhead she could hear the soft howl of flyer circling on patrol. There was a bitterly cold wind, and it stank of gasoline and hot iron and chemicals. It felt like home.

“…….so Grizzlor said that if the troops weren’t scared all the time they wouldn’t fight, but that’s just stupid. I mean, they _should_ be scared of me, but if that’s all they feel they’ll run away the second I’m not looking over their shoulder. So, I’m instituting a paid leave and pension system to try and incentivize loyalty. And we can actually _pay_ for it now that we’re not losing a hundred tanks and bots in those cursed woods every week. Might as well have just set them on fire ourselves.”

“Wow. That’s, uhh, that’s a lot. I usually leave all the politics to Angella and Glimmer. I’m better at the” Adora took a few quick jabs at the air “punching stuff part.” Catra snorted.

“I guess it’s for the best you gave up that Force Captain badge.”

“Yeah” said Adora. “I guess it was.” Catra’s ears flicked, and she started to say something, then closed her mouth. After a minute she asked

“Do you ever—do you ever miss the Horde?”

“No. But I miss some things from the Horde.”

“Like what?”

“The training bots. I never feel like I’m getting a real workout anymore. My old cot. The beds at Bright Moon are _way_ too soft, they found me a better one but it’s still not the same. Sometimes I get a really strong craving for grey ration bars. Some…...some of the people.”

“Huh.” Adora leaned against the rusty metal side of the tower, watching Catra watch the Fright Zone. They’d always come here as kids when they needed to get away. Away from Shadow Weaver, away from discipline, away from work or training. They’d sit here and giggle about pranks they’d pulled or complain about Shadow Weaver, and Catra would sit _right there_ and stare out over the Fright Zone, her face flashing with joy or clenched in rage. Now—she looked like Angella did, holding court in the Chamber of the Throne at Bright Moon, Adora realized. Or a Salinean merchant or Erelandian farmer, eager to show the distinguished guests their neat little shop or tidy plot of land. _Proud_.

“I owe you an apology” Adora said abruptly. Catra turned and scowled at her.

“What, for abandoning me? It’s a little late for that.”

“No. I’m sorry about that, but I didn’t have a choice.” Catra’s tail lashed.

“Then _what_?”

“What you said to me during the peace talks—you were right. I never would have thought you’d be able to take over the Horde by yourself. I never imagined you could take on Shadow Weaver and Hordak and defeat them both.”

“You were wrong” she snapped.

“I was wrong” agreed Adora. “I couldn’t have done this—maybe defeat Shadow Weaver, I don’t know, I’m pretty tough—but take over the Horde? Rule it? Improve it? Keep all this” she waved vaguely around her “from falling apart every day? Uh-uh. But you did, and I didn’t think you could and I should have known better. Catra, _you’re amazing_.” She flushed and looked down. Catra’s ears flattened, and her claws tightened on the railing.

“I mean, yeah, obviously” she said finally. “Pretty sure you’re the only one who didn’t know that.” Adora laughed.

“You know I’ve always been slow.”

“I’ll say” she muttered, but she was grinning as she said it. There was a companionable silence for a few minutes. Somewhere down below they could hear the _hissss_ of steam being vented, and the tramp of marching troops.

“It’s nice, isn’t it? To be back here again” Adora asked hesitantly. Another pause.

“I—” There was a _humm_ then, something just barely above the threshold of hearing that made the hair stand up on the back of Adora’s arms. Then a roar, and a crashing sound of metal and glass shattering. Catra and Adora both stared as a silver streak rose on a pillar of fire from the hole where the hanger bay roof had been.

“Well” Catra growled. “I guess they got it working after all.” Almost simultaneously, both of their communicators started buzzing.

“Adoraaaa I think we need some help because this ship is _very_ difficult to control—” Bow was wailing. In the background she could hear the sound of stuff crashing against the walls, and several alarms howling. Entrapta’s message to her commanding officer was much more succinct.

“It works! It works! It’s amazing! Ahahahaha!” Catra pinched the bridge of her nose and took a deep breath, as the ship above them flipped once, careened back towards the ground, then leveled out into a wide circle over the Fright Zone, still wobbling a little bit.

“I think I’d better go” she said. Adora nodded.

“Me too.” Catra started towards the edge of the platform, then turned back and gave Adora’s shoulder a quick squeeze.

“Look, I don’t believe in destiny. You’ll figure it out.” Then she was gone, scrambling down the ladder before Adora could respond. She blinked, then followed, smiling.

**Author's Note:**

> \- I wanted to do some exposition about how the Horde has changed under Catra's leadership, and I wanted to have Adora and Catra finally talk about some Stuff, and this seemed like a good way to do both of those. 
> 
> \- I think this is the first one of these stories that's kinda dependent on having read the previous ones (or at least some of them).


End file.
